Although it was in production for less than a year, designing this new business line gave me a deep understanding of digital product design within large corporations. Let me show you.
My Vodafone commercial capabilities have excelled. Now, 35% of our devices are sold through our app without human intervention. With 10 million monthly visits to our app, there's a huge opportunity to enhance products and services. We've added non-telco products, and people trust us for items like air fryers or AirPods.To increase client value, create new revenue streams, and reduce churn, we applied a design thinking process to deliver results within a year.
TimeLine
Sep 2021- Jun 2022
Team
Design Team
IT Development
New Business
Marketing
App Team
Tools
Disciplines
The first point of the project was to align our Senior Leadership team around how we can point the project in the right direction. We organized two workshop sessions with our agile practitioner's colleagues to define red lines, MVP approach, and expectations.
SENIOR LEADERSHiP TEAM WORKSHOPs
The first point of the project was to align our Senior Leadership team around how we can point the project in the right direction. We organized two workshop sessions with our agile practitioner's colleagues to define red lines, MVP approach, and expectations.
Scoping the challenge
We decide to minimise our ambition into a third-party vendor and let other ambitions for other project phases.
Identify quick wins
We have identified the quick wins that can help us to build an MVP in a year.
Define the Operative Model:
We decide to create the project in-house by creating internal teams able to continue the project with improvements.
Identify Paint Points:
We have identified the first legal and technological problems we need to solve in the project.
In Vodafone we was masters of Mobiles and Fibre, but MarketPlaces? Let's Get Real and Research!
Concepts exploration
Benchmarking
We have run a Desk Research with the marketing insight team to create a framework to let us identify a winning value proposition for a new e-commerce line of revenue.
Connections: to understand what different players are doing or what others have done so far.
Dimensions: What we need to have in mind when were are designing a new e-commerce value proposition.
Solutions: how others have to reach similar challenges.
Connections
To understand what different players are doing or what others have done so far.
Dimensions
What we need to have in mind when were are designing a new e-commerce value proposition.
Solutions
How others have to reach similar challenges.
Defining a new e-commerce model with real clients
We tested four models with users, each incorporating the insights gathered during the previous phase
Innovation with the consumer:
Our whole purpose is to bring something new to the market, otherwise the initiative will be a failure. “Let’s find the breakthrough”.
Co-creation with the consumer:
How do we materialise this differential element in the new Vodafone Marketplace? “Co-design from the conceptual landing to the tangibilization of the Marketplace for VODAFONE”.
Quantification of the potential:
What kind of business might it represent for Vodafone? “A model estimate of business potential on the tangibilization of the Marketplace”
Cuantitative results
Home Hub
46%
Experience Shop
26%
Tech seconD life
17%
EXEPERT GUIDE SHOP
11%
Users prefer an Home Service and Product aggregator.
PROS
Personalization: Hub market let us provide a personalized experice base on their Vodafone product and services
Easy to use: Users feel interested to have an App to manage all their home products and services seamlessly.
Control: The idea to have control over their product and services are attractive to users.
CONS
One big supplier: Could be a problem to have all service with the same company. Users prefer to have more freedom to choose their service and product suppliers in the Hub.
Security: Users are afraid into have all services on the same platform.
Users wants to have a One Hub App, but it is going to cost us millions. Let's start with something small with bigger intentions
TEAM SET UP
Team Set Up, Design and Development sprints
Initially, the crucial step was to identify a top-notch designer for the venture. The developmental squads were outsourced from Egypt and India. The project necessitated a veteran designer capable of executing the MVP concept and vision, and surmounting technical hurdles. Eventually, I orchestrated a 'dual designer team' for simultaneous collaboration in both local and international circles.
Throughout the process, I aided in escalating certain issues and assisted the designer and product owner in conveying design details to the developmental groups. I gleaned that a product defined well at the foundation stage leads to simpler and more direct execution, and designers are better equipped to address issues they encounter. During the process, we faced some of the most common predicaments associated with such projects. Permit me to share how we endeavored to resolve them.
Time & Budgets constrains
Beyond the technical constraints of any project, we must keep in mind that, much like a renovation, once you start working, you may encounter limitations that can impact the product—especially those related to delivery timelines and budget, which can often increase
MVP Red Lines
The easiest way to overcome time and budget constraints might be to cut product features. As designers, we need to stay calm and have a crystal-clear understanding of the red lines we cannot cross. For example, in this project, we went too far in cutting features, and that affected performance after launch
Fast but no quick
For projects like these, it’s crucial to have designers who can execute quickly and have a strong sense of their own delivery timelines. This allows us to spend more time on decision-making. It’s easy to get carried away by constant requests for modifications, which is why I always recommend pausing first and only executing once everything is clear enough
Users wants to have a One Hub App, but it is going to cost us millions. Let's start with something small with bigger intentions
A GLOBAL TEAM
We are not alone. Work with a wider team to have more ideas and more money to build it
In parallel to the marketplace Spanish project, we have been involved in a new App re-design . MVA12 and SuperApp concept includes a Marketplace, so we have tried to link our project with the global one.
How? We were able to include a Spanish designer in the Global Design Team. This way we made sure we can include local marketplace needs in Global Reference Design.
We pushed our designers to include Spanish market specs like having a separate experience between Vodafone Store and the marketplace one.
MVPs are MVP, so we need to try including learning and product features to let the product shine
TURN YOUR LEARNINGS INTO NEW PROJECTS
A Hub Pop-Up. Future of Home
Following the Market Hub approach, we are working now into create a framework to solve the main paint point on the MVP. Having a unified experience is key to achieving our ambitious sales KPIs. I am working with marketing and technology stakeholders to evaluate a possible solution to include the unification of shops for the next fiscal year.
In the two years I was working on this project we have launched beyond telco products such as Vodafone Energy, Vodafone Health and Vodafone Security. It made it necessary to create a section in the app to unify all products and services following research insight. We are working now to validate a Hub concept to be able to launch next fiscal year.
